Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Recap: The Finale Week 10

November 2, 2019 by
 |  8 Comments  |  Leave Comment

It’s the final week, girls and boys. Three bakers are left to battle it out for the coveted glass cakestand. For a breakdown of what has happened in this contentious season, please see my earlier recaps Weeks 1 and 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8 and Week 9.

Signature bake: Ultimate chocolate cake, decorated in 2 hours

The task was to make an ultimate chocolate cake. David gets out the prunes and Armagnac, Alice ginger and pears and Steph went with Black Forest chocolate cake. My question: do the bakers not know a good chocolate cake recipe? Immediately, I knew they were going to be called out on the green carpet about other flavors overwhelming the chocolate.

Alice’s was tasty but a “wobbly” mess. The baker had pulled the cake from the oven prematurely and then returned it as it was raw which took away from cooling time. David’s cake caused Prue to blow over the legal limit and she was given a JUI (judging under the influence). Steph’s was said to be something last seen on a 70’s dessert trolley – tasty but dry. I thought it looked great. Bring back the 70’s!

During this challenge, we learned of David’s horrific upbringing. His mom removed all fat and sugar whenever possible while baking. When serving cakes, Mommy Dearest would serve the baked goods sans icing unless it was a birthday. I wonder if children’s welfare could have helped? We also learned that David has a twin or maybe we always knew that – this season has been hard on me and I forget things. (Jaime who left after week 2 had a twin as well). David having a twin made his childhood doubly sad without the comfort of iced cakes.

Technical challenge: Twice-baked Stilton soufflés with lavash crackers

This one was a nail biter. The trio was given an hour and ten minutes to make a multi-stepped dish. Where was Noel? Oh, there he is sticking his finger in the soufflé mixture trying to get a laugh.

Steph broke my heart as she struggled. She had added cold water to the bain-marie causing her soufflés to not set up. When she flipped them out for the second bake, they were tiny cheese blobs. No surprise, Steph came in third, Alice second and David first. David finally got a first place in the technical! This win almost makes up for the lack of icing in his younger days.

Showstopper challenge:  A deliciously deceptive feast to fill a picnic basket which should contain cake, enriched bread, and biscuits. All in 4 1/2 hours.

Note to parents of future finalists: if your plane is canceled, please don’t call your son or daughter and tell them this fact before a 4 1/2 hour baking challenge.

Status report: Alice crying. Steph crying. Jenny crying. David calm while turning lemon (pound cake) into faux cheese.

David created a cheeseboard of biscuits, with cheese made up of lemon pound cake, bread that look like peaches and fig rolls that looked like sausage rolls (in Week 2 Jamie made fig rolls that he had egg-washed and Paul said they looked like sausage rolls). Those who pay attention are deemed to repeat history.

Through waterworks, Alice made raspberry macaron strawberries, orange cardamom bread that looked like ice cream cones and carrot cake that was dressed as a pork pie.

Steph struggled. Her bread was transformed to look like muffins, almond macarons were made into strawberries and a dry lemon-poppy seed cake was disguised as a burger. She is just lucky she didn’t lose a finger when her mixer left the bowl and attacked her hand.

We could all see the writing on the cheeseboard. David won. I know he performed brilliantly but Steph did so for nine weeks and I was hoping for a Steph win. They are all brilliant bakers and should be proud.

Overall the final left me with the same feelings I experienced throughout the previous nine weeks. I am hoping for a better season next year. Were you happy with the outcome?

We don’t have to wait until next year for a GBBO fix. Season two of The Great British Bake Off – Holidays airs on November 8th in the US on Netflix. Last year Netflix aired two episodes of the four that were seen in the UK and I am looking forward to seeing some of my favorites compete.

In case you missed it: Darcie posted an interesting piece earlier: Behind the scenes with a GBBO home economist and for those jonesing for more of this year’s contestants – The Great British Bake Off: The Big Book of Amazing Cakes contains the Series 10 bakers and a few of their recipes as well as those of past contestants.

Want to apply for next year? GBBO is taking applications for Series 11.

Category: Antipasto
Tags:

Post a comment

8 Comments

  • TrishaCP  on  November 3, 2019

    I was so disappointed that Steph had her bad week during the finale. She is clearly an amazing baker, and I had been hoping that she would win.

  • veronicafrance  on  November 3, 2019

    I thought David won fair and square, even though Steph had looked like a shoo-in for most of the series. I found it very uncomfortable watching her fall apart on camera, and the zooming in on Alice’s tears was not nice either. Previous hosts Mel and Sue used to stand next to crying bakers swearing so that the footage couldn’t be used. Noel and Sandi are missing a trick. Or maybe C4 want to up the drama. But I don’t watch GBBO for drama — it’s supposed to be comfort TV!

  • Beckyleach  on  November 3, 2019

    I’m absolutely satisfied with the outcome. David was quietly competent and very precise for the entire show (witness his “Always Second” place showing in the Technicals). The lack of *general* culinary experience of the two younger women (Roux’s! Bain-Maries!) was on full display…and their stress meltdowns affected their products.
    David, on the other hand, made stunning “glass” in his signature, and his cake was beautiful, won the Technical, and finally got his flavors to match his precision in the Showstopper. He wasn’t a fluke; he just got it all together at last.
    Well done! Well deserved!

  • Jenny  on  November 3, 2019

    Becky, David made stunning glass the week before but he was calm and did well. As I said they were all great bakers despite their age and lack of experience.

  • Lem9579  on  November 3, 2019

    I loved Steph and was rooting for her. I had no preference when it came to the other two contestants. It did remind me of season 3 when John Whaite (whom I absolutely adore!) won. He was up against Brendan (Bakinator) and James Morton (extremely creative and not afraid of taking risks) who had pretty much taken over the show at that point. He was the underdog and won. He just had a great last show. I think same thing happened with David. Plus his calmness was a plus.

  • hillsboroks  on  November 3, 2019

    I too was backing Steph to win but was not totally disappointed when David won. I went back and rewatched all of this season’s episodes this week before the final paying special attention to Alice, David and Steph. All through the series David was creative and artistic but so very cool, calm and collected (and also so very neat!). Alice was pretty flighty all along and her work station always looked like a hurricane had hit. I do think if her parents’ flight delay hadn’t happened or she wasn’t told about before the final bake, Alice may have done better. But what really surprised me watching all the earlier episodes were the many times I would have expected Steph to do a bit better. She was good but definitely lacked confidence in herself so when she hit snags at the end she sort of fell apart. I was pleased to see Noel dropping the comedy and trying to comfort and encourage both Alice and Steph. Now I can hardly wait for Holiday shows.

  • darcie_b  on  November 4, 2019

    For perhaps the first time in my life, I find myself in agreement with a USA Today article, which asserts that this season’s GBBO suffers from the cardinal sin which Paul Hollywood often chides contestants about – style over substance.

  • Mrs. L  on  November 5, 2019

    I was a big fan of both Steph and David. Expected Steph to win but totally think David was the best on that episode.

Seen anything interesting? Let us know & we'll share it!

Categories

Archives